Sermon 7 of 7 in a series "Centered on Christ" presented July 19, 2009, at Palm Desert Church of Christ, by Dale Wells

3. “Centering on Christ - The
Theology of Prepositions”
• Christian is • The Christian
fundamentally lives through,
one who is in, under,
related to with, for & to
Christ Christ
• Relationship • Today, we'll
described in see that the
many ways, Christian lives
with Christ at like Christ
the center

4. Why is being like Christ so
important?
Two reasons:

5. Christlikeness is what God wants to
see in us
• Why did God send his Son to live among men,
die for men, and be raised for men?
• What is God up to?
– He is making human beings more than human by
making human beings like Christ
• God created us in his image
– We spoiled the image by sin
– God is restoring the image by making us like Christ,
because Christ is both the perfect man, and the
perfect image of God

6. “Like Christ” sums up God's
purpose in conversion

7. Ephesians 4:22-24 NIV
• You were taught, with regard to your former way
of life, to put off your old self, which is being
corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made
new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put
on the new self, created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness.

8. Colossians 3:8-10 NIV
• But now you must rid yourselves of all such
things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander,
and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to
each other, since you have taken off your old
self with its practices 10 and have put on the
new self, which is being renewed in knowledge
in the image of its Creator.

9. “Like Christ” sums up God’s
purpose in sanctification

10. 1 John 2:3-6 NIV
• We know that we have come to know him if we
obey his commands. 4 The man who says, "I
know him," but does not do what he commands
is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if
anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made
complete in him. This is how we know we are in
him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk
as Jesus did.

11. 1 John 3:2 NIV
• Dear friends, now we are children of God, and
what we will be has not yet been made known.
But we know that when he appears, we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is.
• God’s purpose is to make us like Christ

12. Christlikeness is what the world
wants to see in us

13. The name of Christ is constantly on
the lips of Christians
• We sing his name; we pray through his name;
we call ourselves by his name.
• The world has a right to see in our lives the one
we proclaim with our lips – to see visually the
one we proclaim verbally

14. E. Stanley Jones, missionary to
India, was told two things:
• “Jesus is ideal and
wonderful. But you
Christians – you are
not like him.”
• “If you Christians
would live like Jesus
Christ, India would be
at your feet
tomorrow.”

15. Leon Suenens, in The Future of the
Christian Church:
• “What men are waiting for from the church,
whether they realize it or not, is that the church
of today show them the gospel. Our
contemporaries want to meet Christ who is alive
today. They want to see him with their eyes and
touch him with their hands. Like the pilgrims who
approached Philip one day, they say to us ‘We
wish to see Jesus’. Our contemporaries want a
meeting face-to-face with Christ.

16. Leon Suenens, in The Future of the
Christian Church:
• The challenge for us as Christians is that they
demand to see Christ in each of us. They want
us to reflect Christ as clearly as a pane of glass
transmits the rays of the sun. Whatever is
opaque or besmirched in us disfigures the face
of Christ in the church. What the unbeliever
reproaches us with is not that we are not
Christians, but that we are not Christian enough.
That is the tragedy.”
• Nothing hinders Christian testimony more than
the gulf between proclamation and performance

17. The Holy Spirit shows us the
glory of Christ
2 Corinthians 3:18a NIV And we, who
with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's
glory ...

18. Gk. katoptridzomenoi (present
participle of katoptridzoo)
• Has two meanings:
• In the active voice it means "to produce a
reflection". Hence, the NIV reading:
– 2 Corinthians 3:18a NIV And we, who with unveiled
faces all reflect the Lord's glory ...
• In the middle voice it means "to look at one's
image in a mirror". Hence, the NAS reading:
– 2 Corinthians 3:18 NASB But we all, with unveiled
face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord ...

19. NIV footnote captures this with the
alternative reading “contemplate”
• Probably the NAS is a better rendering than the
NIV
• But, as we’ll see, both go hand in hand
• The work of the Holy Spirit is to show us the
glory of Christ
• In the context, Paul reminds his readers of
Moses’ experience on Sinai

20. Exodus 34:29-35 NIV
• When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with
the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he
was not aware that his face was radiant because
he had spoken with the LORD. 30 When Aaron
and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was
radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.
31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all
the leaders of the community came back to him,
and he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the
Israelites came near him, and he gave them all
the commands the LORD had given him on
Mount Sinai.

21. Exodus 34:29-35 NIV
• 33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he
put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he
entered the Lord's presence to speak with him,
he removed the veil until he came out. And when
he came out and told the Israelites what he had
been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was
radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back
over his face until he went in to speak with the
LORD.

22. Moses covered his glowing face to
abate the fear of the people
• But he also did it so the people couldn't see that
the glory was fading
– 2 Corinthians 3:13 NIV We are not like Moses, who
would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites
from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away.

23. Paul takes this as a parable
• The glory of the Lord is still hidden to people, by
and large
• Friends, relatives, acquaintances, whole
populations have never seen it
• We don't veil the gospel, but unbelievers cannot
see it because the veil covers their minds

24. For Jewish unbelievers, the veil is
taken away only in Christ
• 2 Corinthians 3:14-17 NIV But their minds were
made dull, for to this day the same veil remains
when the old covenant is read. It has not been
removed, because only in Christ is it taken
away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read,
a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever
anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

25. For Gentile unbelievers, blindness
is eliminated only in Christ
• 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 NIV And even if our gospel is
veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4
The god of this age has blinded the minds of
unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of
the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the
image of God. 5 For we do not preach
ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and
ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6
For God, who said, "Let light shine out of
darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to
give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Christ.

26. By contrast, our faces are unveiled
• On Sinai, only Moses saw the glory of God
• In Christ, we all see the glory
• Where do we see the glory?
• In the mirror of the NT, we see Jesus:

27. Jesus emptied & humbled himself
• Philippians 2:5-8 NIV Your attitude should be the
same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in
very nature God, did not consider equality with
God something to be grasped, 7 but made
himself nothing, taking the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And
being found in appearance as a man, he
humbled himself and became obedient to
death-- even death on a cross!

28. Jesus served people in their needs
• Matthew 20:25-28 NIV Jesus called them
together and said, "You know that the rulers of
the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high
officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so
with you. Instead, whoever wants to become
great among you must be your servant, 27 and
whoever wants to be first must be your slave--
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be
served, but to serve, and to give his life as a
ransom for many."

29. Jesus loved his enemies
• He taught it
• Matthew 5:43-45 NIV "You have heard that it
was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your
enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you
may be sons of your Father in heaven. He
causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good,
and sends rain on the righteous and the
unrighteous.

30. Jesus loved his enemies
• He practiced what he preached on the cross
• Luke 23:33-34 NIV When they came to the place
called the Skull, there they crucified him, along
with the criminals--one on his right, the other on
his left. 34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for
they do not know what they are doing." And they
divided up his clothes by casting lots.

31. Jesus loved his enemies
• He is our example
• 1 Peter 2:21-23 NIV To this you were called,
because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an
example, that you should follow in his steps. 22
"He committed no sin, and no deceit was found
in his mouth." 23 When they hurled their insults
at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he
made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself
to him who judges justly.

32. The Holy Spirit transforms us into
the likeness of Christ
• Having seen the glory of Jesus, we must reflect
it (NIV reading)
– 2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV And we, who with unveiled
faces all reflect the Lord's glory ...
• The Holy Spirit changes us into the likeness of
Christ
– 2 Corinthians 3:18b NIV And we, ... are being
transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing
glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

33. Gk. metamorphoumetha
transliterated is “metamorphosis”
• The process by which a lump of coal becomes a
diamond
• The process by which a caterpillar becomes a
butterfly
• With the change in verbs there comes a change
in Paul's allusion
• Paul no longer alludes to Moses with his face
shining on Sinai

34. Now he alludes to Christ on the
Mount of Transfiguration
• The same word metamorpheoo describes the
change of Jesus’ appearance when his face,
body and clothes shone
• Matthew 17:1-2 NIV After six days Jesus took
with him Peter, James and John the brother of
James, and led them up a high mountain by
themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before
them. His face shone like the sun, and his
clothes became as white as the light.

35. Paul puts the word in the present
tense
• The significance is that metamorphosis is an
ever-present reality in the life of the Christian
• Moses' face faded moment by moment
• Ours brightens constantly
– This is not to say we are, or ever will be perfect
– We will never be fully like Christ until he returns
– But it doesn't allow for complacency
– We are continually being changed to reflect more of
his glory

36. The word is in the passive voice
• We are not changing ourselves; we are being
changed
• The Spirit is transforming us
• In the same way as a lump of coal is subjected
to intense pressure and heat in order to become
a diamond
• The change may not be easy or pleasant, but it
transforms us into a thing of beauty

37. Christianity is more than a Positive
Mental Attitude
• Self-centeredness is deeply ingrained in us
• We do not need just behavior modification; we
need a new character
• How is this accomplished?
• It is the work of the Lord in our lives

38. Metamorpheoo is only found in one
other context in the NT:
• Romans 12:1-2 NIV Therefore, I urge you,
brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your
bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to
God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do
not conform any longer to the pattern of this
world, but be transformed (Gk. metamorpheoo)
by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be
able to test and approve what God's will is--his
good, pleasing and perfect will.

39. William Temple:
• “It is futile giving me a play like Hamlet or King
Lear and telling me to write a play like that.
Shakespeare could do it; I can't. It is equally
futile giving me a life like the life of Jesus and
telling me to live a life like that. Jesus could do it;
I can't. But if the genius of Shakespeare could
come and live in me, then I could write plays like
that. And if the Spirit of Jesus could come and
live in me, then I could live a life like that.”

40. The secret …
• Not that we live like him, but that he lives in us
• Not that we imitate him, but that reproduces his
character in us
• Not just seeing Jesus by the illumination of the
Spirit; we are being transformed into his image
by the power of the Spirit
• 2 Corinthians 3:3 NIV You show that you are a
letter from Christ, the result of our ministry,
written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living
God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of
human hearts.